WARNING Vodacom 4G/LTE Data drain

supersunbird said:
Don't know what phone you have, but on android phones you can setup a warning and a hardcap yourself.

Under Settings > Data Usage. You can set a warning data usage amount with a slider there. And if you tick Set mobile data limit you will get a slider for what amount of data use you want to be hardcapped at by your phone.
Click to expand...

And your phone is?
 
Me thinks the "Senior Technician" at vodacom is one of the minions that work at one of the stores?
Im with everyone else this sounds like a app killing data
OP check your Data usage (under settings ) you should get a graph and a list of apps using your Data.
Assuming Android
 
jansdejager said:
Can you access a data log on your phone to specify which app or activity reported the usage? If the usage on your phone is vastly different from what you were charged then the refund is forthcoming. If you share this information on the VC site, make sure to make a screenshot before they delete the post so that you can paste that here.
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Unfortunately only Vodacom have the power to see the data usage. However I noted that FNB allow you to see your own logs on their new mobile offering. The usage does originate from my phone but not from an app, but (according to the technician and my understanding) from the phone trying to access the 4G/LTE network. And we're not talking about small pings here but 100's of Mb's in a few hours.
 
isie said:
Me thinks the "Senior Technician" at vodacom is one of the minions that work at one of the stores?
Im with everyone else this sounds like a app killing data
OP check your Data usage (under settings ) you should get a graph and a list of apps using your Data.
Assuming Android
Click to expand...

No it was definitely a senior technician. I asked specifically, he wore Black shirt, knew a lot more than your usual Red shirt Vodacom staff. His name is Rashaad. I'm starting to wish I had filmed the whole interaction.
 
isie said:
Me thinks the "Senior Technician" at vodacom is one of the minions that work at one of the stores?
Click to expand...
Think you'll find that "Senior" these days simply means that the techie in question has started shaving.

Definitely sounds like BBB to me (Bull***** Baffles Brains), some app is chowing data.
 
Rusty0 said:
As it would with an app updating in the background...
Click to expand...

Sure, although then the technician would have easily seen on my data log that an app was updating. I would have seen it too. Also what App would update 440Mb? A system update would... but I would have had to allow it and would have noticed it. I get that you just think I'm a tech idiot. So be it. Just trying to help people and going on what I was told by the technician, and yes he wasn't just some random Vodacom sales guy, I did actually manage to get to one of the senior technicians.
 
MickZA said:
Think you'll find that "Senior" these days simply means that the techie in question has started shaving.

Definitely sounds like BBB to me (Bull***** Baffles Brains), some app is chowing data.
Click to expand...

Sure. I did check who I was talking to though and he did reason the whole thing out and check the data logs to make sure it wasn't just an app. But yeah it could have all been bull****. Although what app updates 440Mb, and how when updates are turned off, and why wouldn't that show on the data log as an app update as opposed to LTE network pings. Just trying to offer a warning given how weird it all was and how the technician seemed to know the problem and was himself defending against it by preventing LTE usage.
 
mgriffs said:
Unfortunately only Vodacom have the power to see the data usage. However I noted that FNB allow you to see your own logs on their new mobile offering. The usage does originate from my phone but not from an app, but (according to the technician and my understanding) from the phone trying to access the 4G/LTE network. And we're not talking about small pings here but 100's of Mb's in a few hours.
Click to expand...

mgriffs said:
No it was definitely a senior technician. I asked specifically, he wore Black shirt, knew a lot more than your usual Red shirt Vodacom staff. His name is Rashaad. I'm starting to wish I had filmed the whole interaction.
Click to expand...

Not doubting you but my experience with the guys in store tech or not are great at B's-ing - (there are the odd exception)
The reason no one here believes this story about LTE using more is from personal experience and many a user coming on here claiming high usage and most of the time its a rouge app or app they authorised but not sure what it does (google cloud back up etc)

The phone trying to connect to 4G and not connecting successfully would kill your battery not really drain airtime and data.
Now if you would be so kind as to advise if you have an android and check what it says because not only can Vodacom check on their side the data usage but you phone (if an android ) will have stats on pretty much all that's being used.
 
Yeah the whole thing is kind of pointless because Vodacom couldn't give a flying **** and the technician could have just been making stuff up to get rid of me, although I don't know why he'd go to the effort he went to of showing me the data logs and explaining the problem... but either way it's good to warn people no? Or should I just shut up and not waste my time trying to help others?
 
I am with what others said. On Android you can go into settings then "data" and see what apps have used how much data and you can change the from and to dates also.
 
mgriffs said:
Sure, although then the technician would have easily seen on my data log that an app was updating. I would have seen it too. Also what App would update 440Mb? A system update would... but I would have had to allow it and would have noticed it. I get that you just think I'm a tech idiot. So be it. Just trying to help people and going on what I was told by the technician, and yes he wasn't just some random Vodacom sales guy, I did actually manage to get to one of the senior technicians.
Click to expand...

Yes it would, its a background refresh.
Check your apps, switch off background app refresh on either Android or iOS.

Let me guess it updated between 12 and 1am?
 
Being on LTE or 3G does not mean you will use more or less data.

No offense @mgriffs but this is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and not from you but what that "so called" technician spewed.... Honestly data is charged when accessing the internet via the apn. Switching from 3G to LTE back and forth won't cause your data usage to spike.

Your phone is using data for either app updates,software/firmware updates or there is a app that is open draining your data.

The High data ping values he is showing you.... What the hell is this? I think he is just showing you your daily usage graphs and has nothing to do with pining the network.... :erm:

Switching LTE off won't solve the issue since there is 3G towers with speeds faster than LTE so I doubt switching LTE off will solve anything. You should download a data monitor that you can see what is chowing your data. Most phones have this build in like android,iphone or windows phone. It shows stats and data usage by app which you can then limit,switch off or uninstall.

If this does not solve your issue I think you need to force your phone to 2G or downgrade to a phone that does not have internet.

mgriffs said:
The senior technician I eventually spoke to told me it was NOT due to an app, and was due to my phone trying to reach the 4G/LTE network. He also showed me his own phone and how it wasn't on 4G because of the known issue. He also logged into their systems and showed me the data usage specifics and how it was just my phone "pinging" the network that was inexplicably using large amounts of data.
Click to expand...
 
isie said:
Not doubting you but my experience with the guys in store tech or not are great at B's-ing - (there are the odd exception)
The reason no one here believes this story about LTE using more is from personal experience and many a user coming on here claiming high usage and most of the time its a rouge app or app they authorised but not sure what it does (google cloud back up etc)

The phone trying to connect to 4G and not connecting successfully would kill your battery not really drain airtime and data.
Now if you would be so kind as to advise if you have an android and check what it says because not only can Vodacom check on their side the data usage but you phone (if an android ) will have stats on pretty much all that's being used.
Click to expand...

iPhone 5. It had the latest system update. Apps were up to date. And in the Cellular Data Settings no app was on that shouldn't have been (as in no settings had changed from the other 363 days of the year this didn't happen on) and no app showed any significant data usage (where apps show their usage, which I had reset a week before). The highest was Whatsapp with a whopping 15Mb.
 
Cool well, I thought it was good to raise given what happened and what I was told. Especially given the tech thought it serious enough to not even have his phone on LTE.

Don't really want to waste anyone's time though. Thanks for the engagement all!
 
cavedog said:
Being on LTE or 3G does not mean you will use more or less data.

No offense @mgriffs but this is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and not from you but what that "so called" technician spewed.... Honestly data is charged when accessing the internet via the apn. Switching from 3G to LTE back and forth won't cause your data usage to spike.

Your phone is using data for either app updates,software/firmware updates or there is a app that is open draining your data.

The High data ping values he is showing you.... What the hell is this? I think he is just showing you your daily usage graphs and has nothing to do with pining the network.... :erm:

Switching LTE off won't solve the issue since there is 3G towers with speeds faster than LTE so I doubt switching LTE off will solve anything. You should download a data monitor that you can see what is chowing your data. Most phones have this build in like android,iphone or windows phone. It shows stats and data usage by app which you can then limit,switch off or uninstall.

If this does not solve your issue I think you need to force your phone to 2G or downgrade to a phone that does not have internet.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the info. He seemed very sure of himself. And the data usage didn't seem very random given my phone was up to date and in my data usage no specific app was reading anything abnormal. It also only started happening after leaving Wifi both times. I will have a look at third party data monitors in case it happens again.
 
mgriffs said:
Cool well, I thought it was good to raise given what happened and what I was told. Especially given the tech thought it serious enough to not even have his phone on LTE.

Don't really want to waste anyone's time though. Thanks for the engagement all!
Click to expand...

check for a decent data management app - we all interest to see what exactly is using your data.
 
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